MMR vaccine… safe and effective or lethal?

What do you do when the president has one view and a potential cabinet member has another view? Do you disagree with the commander-in-chief? Do you tell them you oppose it and you have a different mindset, or do you go along to get along? This rule applies to all kinds of leadership positions. Do you stick to the truth, or do you make somebody feel better because their opinion matters to them? It’s an age-old question, but a real one right now in all kinds of, and well, in the health circles too, in the Maha movement for sure.

Remember Christoper Reeve in Superman? His son, Will Reeve, knows what it means to watch a family face the unthinkable. His father, Christopher Reeve, died in 2004 after years of living with paralysis. His mother, Dana, died of lung cancer less than two years later. Will was still a teenager. Now 34, he has faced a cancer diagnosis of his own. The place where he received care made the experience even more personal: Memorial Sloan Kettering, where his mother had been treated. He has described recognizing something of both parents in those days. He was a patient, as his mother had been. His wife was beside him as a caregiver, just as Dana had been beside Christopher.

We’ll take on both of those huge stories today on America Out Loud PULSE. Dr. Randall Bock joins us, so buckle up for a great PULSE…

Trump called the MMR vaccine potentially lethal. His FDA pick says it’s safe.

“Heidi Overton said during a hearing Thursday that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was “not lethal” and was “safe and effective.” The comments stand in contrast to remarks Trump made last month at the White House with Overton in the room saying the combined MMR vaccine could be potentially “quite lethal,” without citing scientific evidence.”

Senators grilled Overton on whether she would stand up to the president if asked to do something she did not agree with. Should a cabinet member or candidate for any high office that is chosen by the president agree with the administration’s position or state their own position based on their experience and expertise? (WP)

Who is correct, Overton or Trump, on the lethality of the MMR vaccine?
Will we as Americans ever look at ‘safe and effective’ the same way again?

FDA nominee Overton says all US vaccines safe as senators press on shots, abortion, vaping

US Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana asked ‌Overton to affirm the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and to keep politics out of agency decisions. Noting Overton’s presence when Trump called the MMR shot “potentially quite lethal”, Cassidy asked her whether she would break with the president’s characterization as the country experiences its worst measles outbreak in decades due to declining vaccination rates. “The MMR vaccine is not lethal,” Overton said, adding that “every ⁠vaccine on the US market right now are safe and effective according to the FDA,” when Cassidy asked her if any were not. Overton repeatedly declined to say Trump had been wrong on health matters.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts asked why she had not corrected him at the order signing. He noted that the conservative America First Policy Institute, where she once held a leadership role, had said Overton played an important role in shaping the executive order. Overton had stood beside Trump, calling it “a historic day,” Markey said, adding that she then took the microphone without challenging his suggestion that the combined shots could be “quite lethal,” saying parents should have “the option to separate them.” Asked why, Overton said only that the MMR shot was safe and effective and that Trump wanted to give parents “an additional option,” not remove the vaccine. (Reuters)

Will Reeve, ‘GMA’ personality and son of late ‘Superman’ star Christopher Reeve, reveals cancer diagnosis

“Watching my parents up close take the adversity they faced in their lives and repurpose it into something hopeful left a major impact on my life,” Reeve said.

The 34-year-old revealed Tuesday morning that he had testicular cancer, telling Entertainment Weekly’s sister publication, PEOPLE, that he was “raised to share one’s struggles if, in doing so, that might help others” over two decades after his parents’ deaths. Christopher died in 2004 at age 52, after living the latter part of his life paralyzed from the neck down following a horse-riding accident, while Will’s mother, Dana Reeve, died from lung cancer in 2006 at age 44.

“Watching my parents up close take the adversity they faced in their lives and repurpose it into something hopeful left a major impact on my life and how I try to live it,” Reeve told the outlet, noting that he is now cancer-free as of a Sept. 8 screening. Will said that he initially “assumed it was nothing or would go away” upon finding a tender lump on one of his testicles while in the shower, though it was later confirmed to be cancerous. He underwent an orchiectomy to remove the testicle in May, and took several days off from his on-camera duties to recover. He hoped the discovery would be “a momentary blip in an otherwise great time in my life,” though he said that doctors found that 95 percent of the testicular cancer in his body was embryonal carcinoma, which PEOPLE described as “an aggressive form of the disease, leading to a six-hour surgery on June 10 to remove some dozens of lymph nodes in his abdomen” as a result.

Three of the nodes then tested positive for testicular cancer, which led to two rounds of chemotherapy for the broadcast journalist. “Every doctor I saw along the way was using what I call the good C-word—‘cure,’” said Reeve.

Still, “the irony is not lost on me that 20 years after my mom died of lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, there I was in the same building getting treated for cancer,” Will said later in the interview. “I was experiencing life as each of my parents at the same time. Because I was a cancer patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering, I was getting a firsthand experience at what my mother went through. Simultaneously, I was learning more about what it was like to be my dad in the final nine years of his life, where he had my mom and our family taking care of him. And there I was with my wife, who, since the day I met her, has reminded me in so many ways of my mom, now playing the role of wife and caregiver.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Dr. Randall Bock is a physician, writer, and investigative journalist known for his rigorous critiques of health policy and commitment to medical freedom. With over 30 years in primary care, now specializing in men’s health at Regeneris Boston, Dr. Bock brings a unique perspective to public health debates, emphasizing patient autonomy and the right to truthful medical discourse. His view on narcotic addiction—as a response to life trauma rather than a disease—led to a temporary suspension of his medical license, which he successfully overturned, defending his right to medical free speech and advocating for tapering-to-sobriety over “maintenance” programs.